LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


J 


Class  I- 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/divinevisionotheOOrussrich 


^ 


THE  DIVINE  VISION 


AND  OTHER  POEMS 


By  a.  E. 


Honti  an 
MACMILLAN    AND    CO.,   Limited 

NEW   YORK  :    THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 
1904 

All  rights  reserved 


G£N£Ri'\ 


Copyright  in  the  United  States  of  America 


TO 

S.  M.  T.  K. 

S.  V.  G.  R. 

E.  Y.  J.  S. 

COMRADES    IN    THE    CRAFT 


181488 


When  twilight  flutters  the  mountains  over^ 

The  faery  lights  from  the  earth  unfold : 

And  over  the  caves  enchanted  hover 

The  giant  heroes  and  gods  of  old. 

The  bird  of  ^ther  its  flaming  pinions 

Waves  over  earth  the  whole  night  long : 

The  stars  drop  down  in  their  blue  dominions 

To  hymn  together  their  choral  song. 

The  child  of  earth  in  his  heart  grows  burnings 

Mad  for  the  night  and,  the  deep  unknown  ; 

His  alien  flame  in  a  dream  returning 

Seats  itself  on  the  ancient  throne. 

When  twilight  over  the  mountains  fluttered. 

And  night  with  its  starry  millions  came, 

I  too  had  dreams  :  the  songs  I  have  uttered 

Come  from  this  heart  that  was  touched  by  the  flame. 


IX 


CONTENTS 


The  Divine  Vision 

I 

The  Gates  of  Dreamland 

3 

Freedom    ... 

5 

The  Master  Singer 

6 

Remembrance 

8 

Dana  \^. 

9 

The  Grey  Eros   . 

II 

Rest 

13 

The  Nuts  of  Knowledge 

H 

The  Burning  Glass 

i6 

The  Twilight  of  Earth 
Night  -< 

I? 

20 

The  Morning  Star 

22 

A  Farewell 

*4 

The  Message 

26 

At  One     . 

27 

The  Well  of  All   Healing 

29 

A  New  Being 

30 

A  Call  of  the   Sidhe 

31 

XI 


THE   DIVINE   VISION 

This  mood  hath  known  all  beauty,  for  it  sees 

Overwhelmed  majesties 

In  these  pale  forms,  and  kingly  crowns  of  gold 

On  brows  no  longer  bold, 

And  through  the  shadowy  terrors  of  their  hell 

The  love  for  which  they  fell. 

And  how  desire  which  cast  them  in  the  deep 

Called  God  too  from  His  sleep. 

Oh,  pity,  only  seer,  who  looking  through 

A  heart  melted  like  dew, 

Seest  the  long  perished  in  the  present  thus. 

For  ever  dwell  in  us. 

Whatever  time  thy  golden  eyelids  ope 

They  travel  to  a  hope  ; 

Not  only  backward  from  these  low  degrees 

To  starry  dynasties. 

But,  looking  far  where  now  the  silence  owns 

And  rules  from  empty  thrones, 

I  B 


THE  DIVINE  VISION 

Thou  seest  the  enchanted  hills  of  heaven  burn 

For  joy  at  our  return. 

Thy  tender  kiss  hath  memory  we  are  kings 

For  all  our  wanderings. 

Thy  shining  eyes  already  see  the  after 

In  hidden  light  and  laughter. 


o  o 


THE   GATES   OF   DREAMLAND 

It's  a  lonely  road  through  bogland  to  the  lake 

at  Carrowmore, 
And   a   sleeper   there   lies   dreaming  where    the 

water  laps  the  shore  ; 
Though  the  moth-wings  of  the  twilight  in  their 

purples  are  unfurled, 
Yet  his  sleep  is  filled  with  music  by  the  masters 

of  the  world. 


There's  a  hand  is  white  as  silver  that  is  fondling 

with  his  hair  : 
There  are  glimmering  feet  of  sunshine  that  are 

dancing  by  him  there  : 
And  half- open  lips  of  faery  that  were  dyed  a 

faery  red 
In  their  revels  where  the  Hazel  Tree  its  holy 

clusters  shed. 

3 


THE  GATES  OF  DREAMLAND 

"  Come  away,"  the  red   lips  whisper,  "  all  the 

world  is  weary  now  ; 
'Tis  the  twilight  of  the  ages  and   it's  time  to 

quit  the  plough. 
Oh,  the  very  sunlight's  weary  ere  it  lightens  up 

the  dew, 
And  its  gold  is  changed  and  faded  before  it  falls 

to  you. 

"  Though   your    colleen's    heart    be    tender,    a 

tenderer  heart  is  near. 
What's  the   starlight   in   her   glances  when  the 

stars  are  shining  clear  ? 
Who  would  kiss  the  fading  shadow  when  the 

fiower-face  glows  above  : 
'Tis  the  Beauty  of  all  Beauty  that  is  calling  for 

your  love." 

Oh,    the    great    gates    of   the    mountain    have 
opened  once  again. 

And  the  sound  of  song  and  dancing  falls  upon 
the  ears  of  men, 

And  the  Land  of  Youth  lies  gleaming  flushed 
with  rainbow  light  and  mirth. 

And  the  old  enchantment  lingers  in  the  honey- 
heart  of  earth. 

4 


FREEDOM 

I  WILL  not  follow  you,  my  bird, 

I  will  not  follow  you. 
I  would  not  breathe  a  word,  my  bird. 

To  bring  thee  here  anew. 

I  love  the  free  in  thee,  my  bird, 

The  lure  of  freedom  drew  ; 
The  light  you  fly  toward,  my  bird, 

I  fly  with  thee  unto. 

And  there  we  yet  will  meet,  my  bird. 

Though  far  I  go  from  you, 
Where  in  the  light  outpoured,  mv  bird, 

Are  love  and  freedom  too. 


THE   MASTER   SINGER 

A  LAUGHTER  in  the  diamond  air,  a  music  in  the 

trembling  grass  ; 
And  one  by  one  the  words  of  light  as  joydrops 

through  my  being  pass  : 
"  I   am   the    sunlight    in   the   heart,   the    silver 

moon-glow  in  the  mind  ; 
My  laughter  runs  and  ripples  through  the  wavy 

tresses  of  the  wind. 
I  am  the  fire  upon  the  hills,  the  dancing  flame 

that  leads  afar 
Each  burning  hearted  wanderer,  and  I  the  dear 

and  homeward  star. 
A  myriad  lovers  died  for  me,  and  in  their  latest 

yielded  breath 
I   woke    in    glory    giving    them    immortal    life 

though  touched  by  death. 
They  knew    me   from   the    dawn   of  time  :    if 

Hermes  beats  his  rainbow  wings, 

6 


THE  MASTER  SINGER 

If  Angus  shakes  his  locks  of  light,  or  golden- 
haired  Apollo  sings, 
It  matters  not  the  name,  the  land  :   my  joy  in 

all  the  Gods  abides  : 
Even  in  the  cricket  in  the  grass  some  dimness 

of  me  smiles  and  hides. 
For  joy  of  me  the  daystar  glows,  and  in  delight 

and  wild  desire 
The  peacock  twilight  rays  aloft  its  plumes  and 

blooms  of  shadowy  fire, 
Where    in    the    vastness    too    I    burn    through 

summer  nights  and  ages  long. 
And   with   the   fiery -footed   watchers   shake   in 

myriad  dance  and  song." 


REMEMBRANCE 

There  were  many  burning  hours  on  the  heart- 
sweet  tide, 
And  we  passed  away  from  ourselves,  forget- 
ting all 
The  imm.ortal  moods  that  faded,  the  god  who 
died. 
Hastening   away  to   the   King   on   a   distant 
call. 

There  were  ruby  dews  were  shed  when  the  heart 
was  riven, 
And  passionate  pleading  and  prayers  to  the 
dead  we  had  wronged  ; 
And  we  passed  away,  unremembering  and  un- 
for  given. 
Hastening  away  to  the  King  for  the  peace  we 
longed. 

Love    unremembered    and    heart -ache    we    left 
behind. 
We  forsook  them,  unheeding,  hastening  away 
in  our  flight; 
We  knew  the  hearts  we  had  wronged  of  old  we 
would  find 
When  we  came  to  the  fold  of  the  King  for 
rest  in  the  night. 

8 


DANA 

I  AM  the  tender  voice  calling  "  Away," 
Whispering  between  the  beatings  of  the  heart, 
And  inaccessible  in  dewy  eyes 
I  dwell,  and  all  unkissed  on  lovely  lips, 
Lingering  between  white  breasts  inviolate, 
And  fleeting  ever  from  the  passionate  touch, 
I  shine  afar,  till  men  may  not  divine 
Whether  it  is  the  stars  or  the  beloved 
They  follow  with  rapt  spirit.     And  I  weave 
My  spells  at  evening,  folding  with  dim  caress, 
Aerial  arms  and  twilight  dropping  hair. 
The  lonely  wanderer  by  wood  or  shore. 
Till,  filled  with  some  deep  tenderness,  he  yields. 
Feeling  in  dreams  for  the  dear  mother  heart 
He  knew,  ere  he  forsook  the  starry  way, 
And  clings  there,  pillowed  far  above  the  smoke 
And  the  dim  murmur  from  the  duns  of  men. 
I  can  enchant  the  trees  and  rocks,  and  fill 
The  dumb  brown  lips  of  earth  with  mystery, 

9 


DANA 

Make  them  reveal  or  hide  the  god.      I  breathe 
A  deeper  pity  than  all  love,  myself 
Mother  of  all,  but  without  hands  to  heal  : 
Too  vast  and  vague,  they  know  me  not.     But 

yet, 
I  am  the  heartbreak  over  fallen  things, 
The  sudden  gentleness  that  stays  the  blow, 
And  I  am  in  the  kiss  that  foemen  give 
Pausing  in  battle,  and  in  the  tears  that  fall 
Over  the  vanquished  foe,  and  in  the  highest, 
Among  the  Danaan  gods,  I  am  the  last 
Council  of  mercy  in  their  hearts  where  they 
Mete  justice  from  a  thousand  starry  thrones. 


10 


THE  GREY  EROS 

We  are  desert  leagues  apart  ; 

Time  is  misty  ages  now 
Since  the  warmth  of  heart  to  heart 

Chased  the  shadows  from  my  brow. 

Oh,  I  am  so  old,  meseems 
I  am  next  of  kin  to  Time, 

The  historian  of  her  dreams 

From  the  long-forgotten  prime. 

You  have  come  a  path  of  flowers. 

What  a  way  was  mine  to  roam  ! 
Many  a  fallen  empire's  towers. 

Many  a  ruined  heart  my  home. 

No,  there  is  no  comfort,  none. 

All  the  dewy  tender  breath 
Idly  falls  when  life  is  done 

On  the  starless  brow  of  death. 
1 1 


THE  GREY  EROS 

Though  the  dream  of  love  may  tire, 

In  the  ages  long  agone 
There  were  ruby  hearts  of  fire — 

Ah,  the  daughters  of  the  dawn ! 

Though  I  am  so  feeble  now, 

I  remember  when  our  pride 
Could  not  to  the  Mighty  bow  ; 

We  would  sweep  His  stars  aside. 

Mix  thy  youth  with  thoughts  like  those- 

It  were  but  to  wither  thee, 
But  to  graft  the  youthful  rose 

On  the  old  and  ilowerless  tree. 

Age  is  no  more  near  than  youth 
To  the  sceptre  and  the  crown. 

Vain  the  wisdom,  vain  the  truth  ; 
Do  not  lay  thy  rapture  down. 


12 


REST 

On  me  to  rest,  my  bird,  my  bird  : 
The  swaying  branches  of  my  heart 

Are  blown  by  every  wind  toward 

The  home  whereto  their  wings  depart. 

Build  not  your  nest,  my  bird,  on  me  ; 

I  know  no  peace  but  ever  sway  : 
O  lovely  bird,  be  free,  be  free. 

On  the  wild  music  of  the  day. 

But  sometimes  when  your  wings  would  rest, 
And  winds  are  laid  on  quiet  eves  : 

Come,  I  will  bear  you  breast  to  breast, 
And  lap  you  close  with  loving  leaves. 


13 


THE   NUTS   OF   KNOWLEDGE 

A  CABIN  on  the  mountain  side  hid  in  a  grassy 

nook 
Where  door  and  windows  open  wide  that  friendly 

stars  may  look. 
The  rabbit   shy  can   patter  in,  the  winds  may 

enter  free, 
Who   throng   around   the   mountain   throne   in 

living  ecstasy. 


And  when   the   sun   sets    dimmed   in    eve   and 

purple  fills  the  air, 
I   think  the    sacred    Hazel    Tree    is    dropping 

berries  there 
From  starry  fruitage  waved  aloft  where  Connla's 

Well  o'erflows  ; 
For    sure    the    enchanted    waters    run    through 

every  wind  that  blows. 
14 


THE  NUTS  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

I  think  when  night  towers  up  aloft  and  shakes 

the  trembling  dew, 
How  every  high  and  lonely  thought  that  thrills 

my  being  through 
Is  but  a   ruddy  berry   dropped  down  through 

the  purple  air, 
And  from  the  magic  tree  of  life  the  fruit  falls 

everywhere. 


15 


THE   BURNING   GLASS 

A  SHAFT  of  fire  that  falls  like  dew, 
And  melts  and  maddens  all  my  blood, 

From  out  thy  spirit  flashes  through 
The  burning  glass  of  womanhood. 

Only  so  far  ;  here  must  I  stay  : 
Nearer  I  miss  the  light,  the  fire  ; 

I  must  endure  the  torturing  ray, 
And  with  all  beauty,  all  desire. 

Ah,  time  long  must  the  effort  be. 
And  far  the  way  that  I  must  go 

To  bring  my  spirit  unto  thee. 

Behind  the  glass,  within  the  glow. 


i6 


THE   TWILIGHT   OF   EARTH 

The  wonder  of  the  world  is  o'er  : 
The  magic  from  the  sea  is  gone  : 

There  is  no  unimagined  shore, 
No  islet  yet  to  venture  on. 

The  Sacred  Hazels'  blooms  are  shed, 

The  Nuts  of  Knowledge  harvested. 

Oh,  what  is  worth  this  lore  of  age 
If  time  shall  never  bring  us  back 

Our  battle  with  the  gods  to  wage 
Reeling  along  the  starry  track. 

The  battle  rapture  here  goes  by 

In  warring  upon  things  that  die. 

Let  be  the  tale  of  him  whose  love 

Was  sighed  between  white  Deirdre's  breasts, 

It  will  not  lift  the  heart  above 

The  sodden  clav  on  which  it  rests. 

Love  once  had  power  the  gods  to  bring 

All  rapt  on  its  wild  wandering. 

17  c 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  EARTH 

We  shiver  in  the  falling  dew, 

And  seek  a  shelter  from  the  storm  : 

When  man  these  elder  brothers  knew 
He  found  the  mother  nature  warm, 

A  hearth  fire  blazing  through  it  all, 

A  home  without  a  circling  wall. 

We  dwindle  down  beneath  the  skies, 
And  from  ourselves  we  pass  away  : 

The  paradise  of  memories 

Grows  ever  fainter  day  by  day. 

The  shepherd  stars  have  shrunk  within, 

The  world's  great  night  will  soon  begin. 

Will  no  one,  ere  it  is  too  late. 

Ere  fades  the  last  memorial  gleam. 

Recall  for  us  our  earlier  state  ? 
For  nothing  but  so  vast  a  dream 

That  it  would  scale  the  steeps  of  air 

Could  rouse  us  from  so  vast  despair. 

The  power  is  ours  to  make  or  mar 
Our  fate  as  on  the  earliest  morn. 

The  Darkness  and  the  Radiance  are 
Creatures  within  the  spirit  born. 

Yet,  bathed  in  gloom  too  long,  we  might 

Forget  how  we  imagined  light. 
i8 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  EARTH 

Not  yet  are  fixed  the  prison  bars  ; 

The  hidden  light  the  spirit  owns 
If  blown  to  fiame  would  dim  the  stars 

And  they  who  rule  them  from  their  thrones 
And  the  proud  sceptred  spirits  thence 
Would  bow  to  pay  us  reverence. 

Oh,  while  the  glory  sinks  within 
Let  us  not  wait  on  earth  behind, 

But  follow  where  it  flies,  and  win 
The  glow  again,  and  we  may  find 

Beyond  the  Gateways  of  the  Day 

Dominion  and  ancestral  sway. 


19 


NIGHT 

Burning  our  hearts  out  with  longing 

The  daylight  passed  : 
Millions  and  millions  together, 

The  stars  at  last ! 

Purple  the  woods  where  the  dewdrops, 

Pearly  and  grey, 
Wash  in  the  cool  from  our  faces 

The  flame  of  day. 

Glory  and  shadow  grow  one  in 

The  hazel  wood  : 
Laughter  and  peace  in  the  stillness 

Together  brood. 

Hopes  all  unearthly  are  thronging 

In  hearts  of  earth  : 
Tongues  of  the  starlight  are  calling 

Our  souls  to  birth. 

20 


NIGHT 

Down  from  the  heaven  its  secrets 
Drop  one  by  one  ; 

Where  time  is  for  ever  beginning 
And  time  is  done. 

There  light  eternal  is  over 

Chaos  and  night : 
Singing  with  dawn  lips  for  ever, 
"  Let  there  be  light !  " 

There  too  for  ever  in  twilight 

Time  slips  away, 
Closing  in  darkness  and  rapture 

Its  awful  day 


21 


THE    MORNING   STAR 

In  the   black   pool  of  the  midnight  Lugh   has 

slung  the  Morning  Star, 
And  its  foam  in  rippling  silver  whitens  into  day 

afar 
Falling    on   the   mountain   rampart    piled   with 

pearl  above  our  glen, 
Only  you  and  I,  beloved,  moving  in  the  fields  of 

men. 


In  the  dark  tarn  of  my  spirit.  Love,  the  Morn- 
ing Star  is  lit ; 

And  its  halo,  ever  brightening,  lightens  into 
dawn  in  it. 

Love,  a  pearl-grey  dawn  in  darkness,  breathing 
peace  without  desire  ; 

But  I  fain  would  shun  the  burning  terrors  of  the 
mid-day  fire. 

22 


MORNING 

Through  the  faint  and   tender  airs  of  twilight 

star  on  star  may  gaze, 
But  the  eyes  of  light  are  blinded  in  the  white 

flame  of  the  days, 
From  the  heat  that  melts  together  oft  a  rarer 

essence  slips. 
And  our  hearts  may  still  be  parted  in  the  meeting 

of  the  lips. 

What  a  darkness  would  I  gaze  on  when  the  day 
had  passed  the  west, 

If  my  eyes  were  dazed  and  blinded  by  the  white- 
ness of  a  breast  ? 

Never  through  the  diamond  darkness  could  I 
hope  to  see  afar 

Where  beyond  the  pearly  rampart  burned  the 
purer  Evening  Star. 


23 


A  FAREWELL 

I  GO  down  from  the  hills  half  in  gladness,  and 

half  with  a  pain  I  depart, 
Where  the  Mother  with  gentlest  breathing  made 

music  on  lip  and  in  heart  ; 
For  I  know  that  my  childhood  is  over  :  a  call 

comes  out  of  the  vast, 
And  the  love  that  I  had  in  the  old  time  like 

beauty  in  twilight  is  past. 

I  am  fired  by  a  Danaan  whisper  of  battles  afar 

in  the  world. 
And  my  thought  is  no  longer  of  peace,  for  the 

banners  in  dream  are  unfurled, 
And  I  pass  from  the  council  of  stars  and  of  hills 

to  a  life  that  is  new  : 
And  I  bid  to  you  stars  and  you  mountains  a 

tremulous  long  adieu. 
24 


A  FAREWELL 

I  will  come  once  again  as  a  master,  who  played 

here  as  child  in  my  dawn 
I  will  enter  the  heart  of  the  hills  where  the  gods 

of  the  old  world  are  gone. 
And  will  war  like  the   bright  Hound  of  Ulla 

with  princes  of  earth  and  of  sky. 
For  my  dream  is  to  conquer  the  heavens  and 

battle  for  kingship  on  high. 


25 


THE    MESSAGE 

Do  you  not  feel  the  white  glow  in  your  breast, 
my  bird  ? 
That  is  the  flame  of  love  I  send  to  you  from 
afar  : 
Not  a  wafted  kiss,  hardly  a  whispered  word. 
But  love  itself  that  flies  as  a  white-winged  star. 

Let  it  dwell  there,  let  it  rest  there,  at  home  in 
your  heart  : 
Wafted  on  winds  of  gold,  it  is  Love  itself,  the 
Dove. 
Not  the  god  whose  arrows  wounded  with  bitter 
smart. 
Nor  the  purple-fiery  birds  of  death  and  love. 

Do  not  ask  for  the  hands  of  love  or  love's  soft 
eyes  : 
They  give  less  than  love  who  give  all,  giving 
what  wanes. 
I  give  you  the  star-nre,  the  heart-way  to  Paradise, 
With  no  death  after,  no  arrow  with  stinging 
pains. 

26 


AT    ONE 

Sometimes  a  sudden  fount  of  tears  jets  in  my 

heart 
And  oft-times  golden  gleams  will  through  my 

being  dart  : 
Your  crv  or  laugh,  my  sweet,  though  we  are 

far  apart. 

Above  this  hidden   fount  I  bend   and  whisper 

clear 
More  words  of  fonder  love  than  if  your  heart 

were  near, 
More  tenderly  than  if  my  arms  were  round  you, 

dear. 

I  feel  your  gay  love  lights  such  love  in  me  afar, 
I  would  not  have  you  near,  for  eyes  and  lips 

might  mar 
The  silence  where  we  meet  and  star  is  lost  in 

star. 

27 


AT  ONE 

I  think  of  you  in  peace  though  under  alien  skies  : 
Though   death   itself   bereft,  your  love   in   me 

would  rise 
In  rainbow  ripples   borne   from   your   heart   in 

Paradise. 


28 


THE   WELL   OF   ALL   HEALING 

There's  a  cure  for   all   things   in   the  well  at 
Ballylee 
Where    the    scarlet    cressets    hang    over    the 
trembling  pool  : 
And  joyful  winds  are  blowing  from  the  Land  of 
Youth  to  me, 
And  the  heart  of  the  earth  is  full. 

Many  and  many  a   sunbright   maiden   saw  the 
enchanted  land 
With  star  faces  glimmer  up  from  the  druid 
wave  : 
Many  and  many  a  pain  of  love  was  soothed  by 
a  faery  hand 
Or  lost  in  the  love  it  gave. 

When  the  quiet  with  a  ring  of  pearl  shall  wed 
the  earth, 
And  the  scarlet  berries  burn  dark  by  the  stars 
in  the  pool  ; 
Oh,  it's  lost  and  deep  Til  be  amid  the  windy 
mirth, 
While  the  heart  of  the  earth  is  full. 

29 


A  NEW   BEING 

I  KNOW  myself  no  more,  my  child, 
Since  thou  art  come  to  me, 

Pity  so  tender  and  so  wild 

Hath  wrapped  my  thoughts  of  thee. 


These  thoughts  a  fiery  gentle  rain 
Are  from  the  Mother  shed. 

Where  many  a  broken  heart  hath  lain 
And  many  a  weeping  head. 


30 


A   CALL   OF   THE   SIDHE 

Tarry  thou  yet,  late  lingerer  in  the  twilight's 

glory  ; 
Gay    are    the    hills    with    song  :     earth's    faery 

children  leave 
More  dim  abodes  to  roam  the  primrose-hearted 

eve, 
Opening  their  glimmering  lips  to  breathe  some 

wondrous  story. 
Hush,  not  a  whisper  !      Let  your  heart  alone  go 

dreaming. 
Dream  unto  dream  may  pass  :  deep  in  the  heart 

alone 
Murmurs  the  Mighty  One  his  solemn  undertone. 
Canst  thou  not  see  down  the  silver  cloudland 

streaming 
Rivers    of    faery    light,    dewdrop    on    dewdrop 

falling. 
Star-fire  of  silver  flames,  lighting  the  dark  be- 
neath ? 

31 


A  CALL  OF  THE  SIDHE 

And  what  enraptured  hosts  burn  on  the  dusky 

heath ! 
Come  thou  away  with  them  for  Heaven  to  Earth 

is  caHIng. 
These   are   Earth's   voice — her  answer — spirits 

thronging. 
Come  to  the  Land  of  Youth  :   the  trees  grown 

heavy  there 
Drop  on  the  purple  wave  the  starry  fruit  they 

bear. 
Drink  :  the  immortal  waters  quench  the  spirit's 

longing. 
Art  thou  not  now,  bright  one,  all  sorrow  past, 

in  elation, 
Made  young  with  joy,  grown  brother- hearted 

with  the  vast, 
Whither  thy  spirit  wending  flits  the  dim  stars 

past 
Unto  the  Light  of  Lights  in  burning  adoration. 


32 


LOVE    FROM   AFAR 

A  BURNING  fire  rose  up  within  me, 
You  were  away  long  miles  apart  ; 

You  could  not  wait  the  day  to  win  me, 
But  came  a  lightning  to  my  heart. 

I  call  into  that  flaming  centre 
'*  Spirit,  1  love  you."     Far  away 

Fades  from  the  paradise  I  enter 
The  dim  unreal  land  of  day. 


33  D 


BABYLON 

The   blue   dusk   ran   between  the  streets  :    my 

love  was  winged  within  my  mind, 
It  left  to-day  and  yesterday  and  thrice  a  thousand 

years  behind. 
To-day  was  past   and  dead  for  me,  for   from 

to-day  my  feet  had  run 
Through  thrice  a  thousand  years  to  walk   the 

ways  of  ancient  Babylon. 
On  temple  top  and   palace  roof  the  burnished 

gold  flung  back  the  rays 
Of  a  red  sunset  that  was  dead  and  lost  beyond 

a  million  days. 
The  tower  of  heaven  turns  darker  blue,  a  starry 

sparkle  now  begins  ; 
The    mystery    and    magnificence,    the    myriad 

beauty  and  the  sins 
Come  back  to  me.     I  walk  beneath  the  shadowy 

multitude  of  towers  ; 
34 


BABYLON 

Within  the  gloom  the  fountain  jets  its  pallid 
mist  in  lily  flowers. 

The  waters  lull  me  and  the  scent  of  many- 
gardens,  and  I  hear 

Familiar  voices,  and  the  voice  I  love  is  whisper- 
ing in  my  ear. 

Oh  real  as  in  dream  all  this  ;  and  then  a  hand 
on  mine  is  laid  : 

The  wave  of  phantom  time  withdraws  ;  and 
that  voung  Babylonian  maid, 

One  drop  of  beauty  left  behind  from  all  the 
flowing  of  that  tide, 

Is  looking  with  the  self-same  eyes,  and  here  in 
Ireland  by  my  side. 

Oh  light  our  life  in  Babylon,  but  Babylon  has 
taken  wings, 

While  we  are  in  the  calm  and  proud  procession 
of  eternal  things. 


35 


THE   SILENCE   OF   LOVE 

I  COULD  praise  you  once  with  beautiful  words 

ere  you  came 
And   entered  my  life  with  love  in  a  wind   of 

flame. 
I    could   lure  with   a  song   from  afar  my   bird 

to  its  nest, 
But  with   pinions   drooping  together  silence  is 

best. 


In  the  Land  of  Beautiful  Silence  the  winds  are 

laid, 
And  life  grows  quietly  one  in  the  cloudy  shade. 
I  will  not  waken  the  passion  that  sleeps  in  the 

heart, 
For  the  winds  that  blew  us  together  may  blow 

us  apart. 

36 


THE  SILENCE  OF  LOVE 

Fear  not   the  stillness  ;    for  doubt  and  despair 

shall  cease 
With  the  gentle  voices  guiding  us  into  peace. 
Our  dreams  will  change  as  they  pass  through 

the  gates  of  gold, 
And  Quiet,  the  tender  shepherd,  shall  keep  the 

fold. 


37 


APHRODITE 

Not  unremembering  we  pass  our  exile  from  the 

starry  ways  : 
One  timeless  hour  in  time  we  caught  from  the 

long  night  of  endless  days. 
With  solemn  gaiety  the  stars  danced  far  with- 
drawn on  elfin  heights  : 
The  lilac  breathed  amid  the  shade  of  green  and 

blue  and  citron  lights. 
But  yet  the  close  enfolding  night  seemed  on  the 

phantom  verge  of  things, 
For  our  adoring  hearts  had  turned  within  from 

all  their  wanderings  : 
For  beauty  called  to  beauty,  and  there  thronged 

at  the  enchanter's  will 
The  vanished  hours  of  love   that   burn  within 

the  Ever-living  still. 
And  sweet  eternal  faces  put  the  shadows  of  the 
earth  to  rout, 

38 


APHRODITE 

And  faint  and  fragile  as  a  moth  your  white  hand 

fluttered  and  went  out. 
Oh,  who  am  I  who  tower  beside  this  goddess  of 

the  twilight  air  ? 
The  burning  doves  fly  from  my  heart,  and  melt 

within  her  bosom  there. 
I  know  the  sacrifice  of  old  thev  offered  to  the 

mighty  queen, 
And  this  adoring  love  has  brought  us  back  the 

beauty  that  has  been. 
As  to  her  worshippers  she  came  descending  from 

her  glowing  skies, 
So  Aphrodite  I  have  seen  with  shining  eyes  look 

through  your  eyes  : 
One  gleam  of  the  ancestral  face  which  lighted 

up  the  dawn  for  me  : 
One  fiery  visitation  of  the  love  the  gods  desire 

in  thee  ! 


39 


REFUGE 

Twilight,  a  timid  fav/n,  went  glimmering  by, 
And  Night,  the   dark-blue   hunter,  followed 
fast, 

Ceaseless  pursuit  and  flight  were  in  the  sky. 
But  the  long  chase  had  ceased  for  us  at  last. 

We  watched  together  while  the  driven  fawn 
Hid  in  the  golden  thicket  of  the  day. 

•  We,  from  whose  hearts  pursuit  and  flight  were 
gone. 
Knew  on  the  hunter's  breast  her  refuge  lay. 


40 


THE  FACES  OF   MEMORY 

Dream  faces  bloom  around  your  face 

Like  flowers  upon  one  stem  ; 
The  heart  of  many  a  vanished  race 

Sighs  as  I  look  on  them. 

The  sun  rich  face  of  Egypt  glows, 

The  eyes  of  Eire  brood, 
With  whom  the  golden  Cyprian  shows 

In  lovely  sisterhood. 

Your  tree  put  forth  these  phantom  flowers 

In  ages  past  away  : 
They  had  the  love  in  other  hours 

I  give  to  you  to-day. 

One  light  their  eyes  have,  as  may  shine 

One  star  on  many  a  sea, 
They  look  that  tender  love  on  mine 

That  lights  your  glance  on  me. 
41 


THE  FACES  OF  MEMORY 

They  fade  in  you  ;  their  lips  are  fain 

To  meet  the  old  caress  : 
And  all  their  love  is  mine  again 

As  lip  to  lip  we  press. 


42 


THE  SECRET   LOVE 

You  and  I  have  found  the  secret  way, 
None  can  bar  our  love  or  say  us  nay  : 
All  the  world  may  stare  and  never  know 
You  and  I  are  twined  together  so. 

You  and  I  for  all  his  vaunted  width 
Know  the  giant  Space  is  but  a  myth  ; 
Over  miles  and  miles  of  pure  deceit 
You  and  I  have  found  our  lips  can  meet. 

You  and  I  have  laughed  the  leagues  apart 
In  the  soft  delight  of  heart  to  heart. 
If  there's  a  gulf  to  meet  or  limit  set, 
You  and  I  have  never  found  it  yet. 

You  and  I  have  trod  the  backward  way 
To  the  happy  heart  of  yesterday. 
To  the  love  we  felt  in  ages  past. 
You  and  I  have  found  it  still  to  last. 

43 


THE  SECRET  LOVE 

You  and  I  have  found  the  joy  had  birth 
In  the  angel  childhood  of  the  earth, 
Hid  within  the  heart  of  man  and  maid. 
You  and  I  of  Time  are  not  afraid. 

You  and  I  can  mock  his  fabled  wing, 
For  a  kiss  is  an  immortal  thing. 
And  the  throb  wherein  those  old  lips  met 
Is  a  living  music  in  us  yet. 


44 


THE  WEAVER  OF  SOULS 

Who  is  this  unseen  messenger 

For  ever  between  me  and  her, 

Who  brings  love's  precious  merchandise, 

The  golden  breath,  the  dew  of  sighs, 

And  the  wild,  gentle  thoughts  that  dwell 

Too  fragile  for  the  lips  to  tell, 

Each  at  their  birth,  to  us  before 

A  heaving  of  the  heart  is  o'er. 

Who  art  thou,  unseen  messenger  ? 

I  think,  O  Angel  of  the  Lord, 
You  make  our  hearts  to  so  accord 
That  those  who  hear  in  after  hours 
May  sigh  for  love  as  deep  as  ours  ; 
And  seek  the  magic  that  can  give 
An  Eden  where  the  soul  may  live, 
Nor  need  to  walk  a  road  of  clay 
With  stumbling  feet,  nor  fall  away 
From  thee,  O  Angel  of  the  Lord. 

45 


TRANSFORMATION 

In  other  climes  as  the  times  shall  fleet 

You  yet  may  the  hero  be, 
And  a  loving  heart  may  beat,  my  sweet. 

In  a  woman's  breast  for  thee. 

Your  flight  shall  be  in  the  height  above, 
My  wings  droop  low  on  the  lea. 

For  the  eagle  must  grow  a  dove,  my  love, 
And  the  dove  an  eagle  be. 


46 


CHILDREN  OF  LIR 

We  woke  from  our  sleep  in  the  bosom  where 

cradled  together  we  lay  : 
The  love  of  the  Dark  Hidden  Father  went  with 

us  upon  our  way. 
And  gay  was  the  breath  in  our  being,  and  never 

a  sorrow  or  fear 
Was  on  us,  as  singing  together,  we  flew  from 

the  infinite  Lir. 


Through  nights  lit  with  diamond  and  sapphire 

we  raced  with  the  Children  of  Dawn, 
A  chain  that  was  silver  and  golden  linked  spirit 

to  spirit,  my  swan. 
Till  day  in  the  heavens  passed  over,  and  still 

grew  the  beat  of  our  wings, 
And   the  Breath  of  the  Darkness  enfolded   to 

teach  us  unspeakable  things. 
47 


CHILDREN  OF  LIR 

Yet  lower  we  fell  and  for  comfort  our  pinionless 

spirits  had  now 
The  leaning  of  bosom  to  bosom,  the  lifting  of 

lip  unto  brow. 
Though  chained  to  the  earth  yet  we  mourned 

not  the  loss  of  our  heaven  above, 
But  passed  from   the  vision   of  Beauty  to  the 

fathomless  being  of  Love. 

Still  gay  is  the  breath  in  our  being,  we  wait  for 
the  Bell  Branch  to  rine 

o 

To  call  us  away  to  the  Father,  and  then  we  will 

rise  on  the  wing. 
And  fly  through  the  twilights  of  tim.e  till  the 

home  lights  of  heaven  appear  ; 
Our  spirits  through  love  and  through  longing 

made  one  in  the  infinite  Lir. 


48 


LIGHT  AND  DARK 

Not  the  soul  that's  whitest 
Wakens  love  the  sweetest  : 

When  the  heart  is  lic^htest 
Oft  the  charm  is  fleetest. 

While  the  snow-frail  maiden, 
Waits  the  time  of  learning, 

To  the  passion  laden 

Turn  with  eager  yearning. 

While  the  heart  is  burning 

Heaven  with  earth  is  banded  : 

To  the  stars  returning 
Go  not  empty-handed. 

Ah,  the  snow-frail  maiden  ! 

Somehow  truth  has  missed  her, 
Left  the  heart  unladen 

For  its  burdened  sister. 

49  E 


TWILIGHT  BY  THE   CABIN 

Dusk,  a  pearl-grey  river,  o'er 

Hill  and  vale  puts  out  the  day — 

What  do  you  wonder  at,  asthore, 
What's  away  in  yonder  grey  ? 

Dark  the  eyes  that  linger  long — 
Dream-fed  heart,  awaice,  come  in, 

Warm  the  hearth  and  gay  the  song  : 
Love  with  tender  words  would  win. 

Fades  the  eve  in  dreamy  fire, 
But  the  heart  of  night  is  lit  : 

Ancient  beauty,  old  desire. 
By  the  cabin  doorway  flit. 

This  is  Etain's  land  and  line. 
And  the  homespun  cannot  hide 

Kinship  with  a  race  divine, 

Thrill  of  rapture,  light  of  pride. 
50 


TWILIGHT  BY  THE  CABIN 

There  her  golden  kinsmen  are  : 
And  her  heart  a  moment  knew 

Angus  like  the  evening  star 

Fleetino[  through  the  dusk  and  dew 

Throw  the  woman's  mask  away  : 
Wear  the  opal  glimmering  dress  ; 

Let  the  feathered  starlight  ray 
Over  every  gleaming  tress. 

Child  of  Etain,  wherefore  leave 
Light  and  laughter,  joyful  years, 

For  the  earth's  grey  coloured  eve 
Ever  dropping  down  with  tears  ? 

Was  it  for  some  love  of  old  ? 

Ah,  reveal  thyself.     The  bars 
On  the  gateway  would  not  hold  : 

He  will  follow  to  the  stars. 


51 


BEAUTY 

My  spirit  would  have  beauty  to  build  its  magic 

art 
Come  hither,  star  of  evening,  and  dwell  within 

my  heart 
Oh,   twilight,    fall    in   pearl   dew,   each   healing 

drop  may  bring 
Some  image  of  the  song  the  Quiet  seems  to  sing. 


My  spirit  would   have  beauty  to   offer   at  the 

shrine. 
And   turn   dull   earth  to   gold   and  water   into 

wine. 
And    burn    in    fiery   dreams   each    thought   till 

thrice  refined 
It    may    have    power    to    mirror    the    mighty 

Master's  mind. 

52 


BEAUTY 

My  spirit  would  have  beauty  to  draw  thee  nigh, 

my  bird. 
I  seek  the   lips   that   spake   thee,  sung   thee,  a 

starry  word. 
Yd  breathe  anew  that  music,  and  lure  thee  from 

afar, 
And  still  thy  quivering  pinions  at  peace  in  thy 

own  star. 


53 


THE  VISION   OF   LOVE 

The    twilight    fleeted    away    in    pearl    on    the 

stream, 
And  night,  like  a  diamond  dome,  stood  still  in 

our  dream. 
Your  eyes  like  burnished  stones  or  as  stars  were 

bright 
With  the  sudden  vision  that  made  us  one  with 

the  night. 

We  loved  in  infinite  spaces,  forgetting  here 
The  breasts  that  were  lit  with  life  and  the  lips 

so  near  ; 
Till  the  wizard  willows  waved  in  the  wind  and 

drew 
Me  away  from  the  fulness  of  love  and  down  to 

you. 

Our  love  was  so  vast  that  it  filled  the  heavens 

up: 

But  the  soft  white  form  I  held  was  an  empty 
cup, 

When  the  willov/s  called  me  back  to  earth  with 

their  sigh, 
And  we  moved  as  shades  through  the  deep  that 

was  you  and  I. 

54 


A   MEMORY 

You  remember,  dear,  together 

Two  children,  you  and  I, 
Sat  once  in  the  autumn  weather, 

Watching  the  autumn  sky. 

There  was  some  one  round  us  straying 
The  whole  of  the  long  day  through. 

Who  seemed  to  say,  ''  I  am  playing 
At  hide  and  seek  with  you." 

And  one  thing  after  another 

Was  whispered  out  of  the  air, 
How  God  was  a  big,  kind  brother 

Whose  home  is  in  everywhere. 

His  light  like  a  smile  comes  glancing 

Through  the  cool,  cool  winds  as  they  pass. 

From  the  flowers  in  heaven  dancing 
To  the  stars  that  shine  in  the  grass. 

From  the  clouds  in  deep  blue  wreathing 
And  most  from  the  mountains  tall. 

But  God  like  a  wind  goes  breathing 
A  dream  of  Himself  in  all. 
55 


A  MEMORY 

The  heart  of  the  Wise  was  beating 
Sweet,  sweet,  in  our  hearts  that  day  : 

And  many  a  thought  came  fleeting 
And  fancies  solemn  and  gay. 

We  were  grave  in  our  way  divining 
How  childhood  was  taking  wings, 

And  the  wonder  world  was  shining 
With  vast  eternal  things. 

The  solemn  twilight  fluttered 
Like  the  plumes  of  seraphim. 

And  we  felt  what  things  were  uttered 
In  the  sunset  voice  of  Him. 

We  lingered  long,  for  dearer 

Than  home  were  the  mountain  places 
Where  God  from  the  stars  dropt  nearer 

Our  pale,  dreamy  faces. 

Our  very  hearts  from  beating 

We  stilled  in  awed  delight, 
For  spirit  and  children  were  meeting 

In  the  purple,  ample  night. 


56 


A    SUMMER   NIGHT 

Her  mist  of  primroses  within  her  breast 
Twilight  hath  folded  up,  and  o'er  the  west, 
Seeking  remoter  vallevs  long  hath  gone, 
Not  yet  hath  come  her  sister  of  the  dawn. 
Silence  and  coolness  now  the  earth  enfold, 
Jewels  of  glittering  green,  long  mists  of  gold. 
Hazes  of  nebulous  silver  veil  the  height. 
And   shake   in    tremors    through    the   shadowy 

night. 
Heard    through    the   stillness,  as   in   whispered 

words, 
The  wandering  God-guided  wings  of  birds 
Ruffle  the  dark.     The  little  lives  that  lie 
Deep  hid  in  grass  join  in  a  long-drawn  sigh 
More  softly  still ;   and  unheard  through  the  blue 
The  falling  of  innumerable  dew. 
Lifts  with  grey  fingers  all  the  leaves  that  lay 
Burned  in  the  heat  of  the  consuming  day. 
The  lawns  and  lakes  lie  in  this  night  of  love, 

57 


A  SUMMER  NIGHT 

Admitted  to  the  majesty  above. 

Earth  with  the  starry  company  hath  part  ; 

The  waters  hold  all  heaven  within  their  heart, 

And  glimmer  o'er  with  wave-lips  everywhere 

Lifted  to  meet  the  angel  lips  of  air. 

The  many  homes  of  men  shine  near  and  far, 

Peace-laden  as  the  tender  evening  star. 

The  late  home-coming  folk  anticipate 

Their  rest  beyond  the  passing  of  the  gate. 

And  tread  with  sleep- filled  hearts  and  drowsy 

feet. 
Oh,  far  away  and  wonderful  and  sweet 
All  this,  all  this.      But  far  too  many  things 
Obscuring,  as  a  cloud  of  seraph  wings 
Blinding  the  seeker  for  the  Lord  behind, 
I  fall  away  in  weariness  of  mind. 
And  think  how  far  apart  are  I  and  you, 
Beloved,  from  those  spirit  children  who 
Felt  but  one  single  Being  long  ago, 
Whispering  in  gentleness  and  leaning  low 
Out  of  its  majesty,  as  child  to  child. 
I  think  upon  it  all  with  heart  grown  wild. 
Hearing  no  voice,  howe'er  my  spirit  broods. 
No  whisper  from  the  dense  infinitudes, 
This  world  of  myriad  things  whose  distance  awes. 
Ah  me  ;  how  innocent  our  childhood  was  ! 

58 


WHOM    WE   WORSHIP 

I  WOULD  not  have  the  love  of  lips  and  eves, 

The  ancient  ways  of  love  : 
But  in  my  heart  I  built  a  Paradise, 

A  nest  there  for  the  dove. 

I  felt  the  wings  of  light  that  fluttered  through 

The  gate  I  held  apart  : 
And  all  without  was  shadow,  but  I  knew 

The  bird  within  my  heart. 

Then,  while  the  innermost  with  music  beat, 

The  voice  I  loved  so  long 
Seemed  only  the  dream  echo  faint  and  sweet 

Of  a  far  sweeter  song. 

I  could  not  even  bear  the  thought  I  felt 

Of  Thee  and  Me  therein  ; 
And  with  white  heat  I  strove  the  veil  to  melt 

That  love  to  love  might  win. 
59 


WHOM  WE  W^ORSHIP 

But  ah,  my  dreams  within  their  fountain  fell 

Not  to  be  lost  in  thee, 
But  with  the  high  ancestral  love  to  dwell 

In  its  lone  ecstasy. 


60 


iMISTRUST 

You  look  at  me  with  wan,  bright  eyes 
When  in  the  deeper  world  I  stray  : 

You  fear  some  hidden  ambush  lies 
In  wait  to  call  me,  "  Come  away." 

What  if  I  see  behind  the  veil 
Your  starry  self  beseeching  me, 

Or  at  its  stern  command  grow  pale, 
"  Let  her  be  free,  let  her  be  free  ? " 


6i 


THE   DREAM 

I  WOKE  to  find  my  pillow  wet 

With  tears  for  deeds  deep  hid  in  sleep. 

I  knew  no  sorrow  here,  but  yet 

The  tears  fell  softly  through  the  deep. 

Your  eyes,  your  other  eyes  of  dream, 

Looked  at  me  through  the  veil  of  blank  ; 

I  saw  their  joyous,  starlit  gleam 

Like  one  who  watches  rank  on  rank. 

His  victor  airy  legions  wind 

And  pass  before  his  awful  throne — 

Was  there  thy  loving  heart  unkind, 
Was  I  thy  captive  all  overthrown  ? 


62 


THE   FEAST   OF   AGE 

See    where    the    light    streams    over    Connla's 
fountain 

Starward  aspire  ! 
The  sacred  sign  upon  the  holy  mountain 

Shines  in  white  fire  : 
Wavering  and  flaming  yonder  o'er  the  snows 

The  diamond  light 
Melts  into  silver  or  to  sapphire  glows, 

Night  beyond  night  : 
And  from  the  Heaven  of  Heaven  descends  on 
earth 

A  dew  divine. 
Come,  let  us  mingle  in  the  starry  mirth 

Around  the  shrine. 
O  Earth,  Enchantress,  Mother,  to  our  home 

In  thee  we  press, 
Thrilled  by  thy  fiery  breath  and  wrapt  in  some 

Vast  tenderness. 
The  homeward  birds,  uncertain  o'er  their  nest 

Wheel  in  the  dome, 
Fraught  with  dim  dreams  of  more  enraptured 
rest, 

63 


THE  FEAST  OF  AGE 

Another  home. 
But  gather  ye,  to  whose  undarkened  eyes 

Night  is  as  day, 
Leap  forth,  immortals,  Birds  of  Paradise, 

In  bright  array, 
Robed  like  the  shining  tresses  of  the  sun. 

And  by  his  name 
Call  from  his  haunt  divine,  the  ancient  one 

Our  Father  Flame.  ^ 
Aye,  from  the  wonder  light,  heart  of  our  star, 

Come  now,  come  now. 
Sun-breathing  spirit,  ray  thy  lights  afar  : 

Thy  children  bow. 
Hush  with  more  awe   the   heart  ;    the  bright- 
browed  races 

Are  nothing  worth, 
By  those  dread  gods  from  out  whose  awful  faces 

The  earth  looks  forth 
Infinite  pity  set  in  calm,  whose  vision  cast 

Adown  the  years 
Beholds  how  beauty  burns  away  at  last 

Their  children's  tears. 
Now  while  our  hearts  the  ancient  quietness 

Floods  with  its  tide, 
The  things  of  air  and  fire  and  height  no  less 

In  it  abide  ; 

64 


THE  FEAST  OF  AGE 

And  from  their  wanderings  over  sea  and  shore 

Thev  rise  as  one 
Unto  the  vastness,  and  with  us  adore 

The  midnight  sun, 
And  enter  the  innumerable  All 

And  shine  like  gold, 
And  starlike  gleam  in  the  immortal's  hall, 

The  heavenly  fold, 
And  drink  the  sun-breaths  from  the   Mother's 
lips 

Awhile,  and  then 
Fail  from  the  light  and  drop  in  dark  eclipse 

To  earth  again. 
Roaming  along  by  heaven-hid  promontory 

And  valley  dim. 
Weaving  a  phantom  image  of  the  glory 

They  knew  in  Him. 
Out  of  the  fulness  flow  the  winds,  their  song 

Is  heard  no  more. 
Or  hardly  breathes  a  mystic  sound  along 

The  dreamy  shore. 
Blindly  they  move,  unknowing  as  in  trance  ; 

Their  wandering 
Is  half  with  us,  and  half  an  inner  dance. 

Led  by  the  King. 


65 


A   WAY   OF   ESCAPE 

There's  a  way  of  escape  through  the  Gate  of 
Sorrow, 

A  light  at  the  end  of  the  Path  of  Pain  :     / 
But  our  joy  and  our  love  can  have  no  to-morrow, 

And  to  drink  is  to  sink  to  the  earth  again. 


There  is  death  in  the  breath  when  our  lips  draw 
nigher. 
And  we  lay  waste  the  plain  for  a  flower  to 
grow; 
And  we  build  up  the  tower  of  an  hour's  desire 
With  dust  from  the  pit  of  its  overthrow. 


66 


RECALL 

What  call  may  draw  thee  back  again, 

Lost  dove,  what  art,  what  charm  may  please  ? 

The  tender  touch,  the  kiss,  are  vain, 
For  thou  wert  lured  away  by  these. 


Oh,  must  we  use  the  iron  hand. 

And  mask  with  hate  the  holy  breath. 

With  alien  voice  give  love's  command, 
As  they  through  love  the  call  of  death 


67 


THE   VOICE   OF   THE   WATERS 

Where  the  Greyhound  River  windeth  through 

a  loneliness  so  deep, 
Scarce   a  wild  fowl  shakes   the   quiet  that  the 

purple  boglands  keep, 
Only  God  exults  in  silence  over  fields  no  man 

may  reap. 

Where  the  silver  wave  with   sweetness  fed  the 

tiny  lives  of  grass 
I  was  bent  above,  my  image   mirrored   in   the 

fleeting  glass. 
And  a  voice  from  out  the  water  through  my 

being  seemed  to  pass. 

*'  Still  above  the  waters  brooding,  spirit,  in  thy 
timeless  quest ; 

Was  the  glory  of  thine  image  trembling  over 
east  and  west 

Not  divine  enough  when  mirrored  in  the  morn- 
ing water's  breast  :'' 
68 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  WATERS 

With  the  sighing  voice  that  murmured  I  was 

borne  to  ages  dim 
Ere  the  void  was  lit  with  beauty  breathed  upon 

by  seraphim, 
We  were  cradled  there   together  folded  in  the 

peace  in  Him. 

One  to  be  the  master  spirit,  one  to  be  the  slave 

awoke. 
One  to  shape  itself  obedient  to  the  fiery  words 

we  spoke. 
Flame  and  flood  and  stars  and  mountains  from 

the  primal  waters  broke. 

I  was  huddled  in  the  heather  when  the  vision 

failed  its  light, 
Still  and  blue  and  vast  above  me  towered  aloft 

the  solemn  height. 
Where  the  stars  like  dewdrops  glistened  on  the 

mountain  slope  of  night. 


69 


IN   CONNEMARA 

With    eyes   all   untroubled   she   laughs   as   she 
passes, 
Bending  beneath  the  creel  with  the  seaweed 
brown, 
Till  evening  with  pearl- dew  dims  the  shining 
grasses 
And   night  lit  with    dreamlight   enfolds  the 
sleepy  town. 


Then  she  will  wander,  her  heart  all  a  laughter. 
Tracking  the  dream  star  that  lights  the  purple 
gloom. 
She  follows  the  proud  and  golden  races  after, 
As  high  as  theirs  her  spirit,  as  high  will  be 
her  doom. 


70 


AN    IRISH    FACE 

Not  her  own  sorrow  only  that  hath  place 

Upon  von  gentle  tace. 

Too  slight  have  been  her  childhood's  years  to 

gain 
The  imprint  of  such  pain. 

It  hid  behind  her  laughing  hours,  and  wrought 
Each  curve  in  saddest  thought 
On  brow  and  lips  and  eyes.      With  subtle  art 
It  made  that  little  heart 

Through  its  young  joyous  beatings  to  prepare 
A  quiet  shelter  there, 

Where  the  Immortal  Sorrows  might  find  a  home. 
And  many  there  have  come  ; 
Bowed  in  a  mournful  mist  of  golden  hair 
Deirdre  hath  entered  there. 
And  shrouded  in  a  fall  of  pitying  dew, 
Weeping  the  friend  he  slew, 
The  Hound  of  Ulla  lies,  with  those  who  shed 
Tears  for  the  Wild  Geese  fled. 

71 


AN  IRISH  FACE 

And  all  the  lovers  on  whom  fate  had  warred 

Cutting  the  Silver  Cord 

Enter,  and  softly  breath  by  breath  they  mould 

The  young  heart  to  the  old, 

The' old  protest,  the  old  pity,  whose  power 

Are  gathering  to  the  hour 

When  their  knit  silence  shall  be  mightier  far 

Than  leagued  empires  are. 

And  dreaming  of  the  sorrow  on  this  face 

We  grow  of  lordlier  race. 

Could  shake  the  rooted  rampart  of  the  hills 

To  shield  her  from  all  ills. 

And  through  a  deep  adoring  pity  won 

Grow  what  we  dream  upon. 


72 


HOPE   IN    FAILURE 

Though   how  thou   hast  failed  and  art  fallen, 

despair  not  because  of  defeat, 
Though  lost  for  a  while  be  thy  heaven  and  weary 

of  earth  be  thy  feet, 
For    all    will    be    beauty    about    thee    hereafter 

through  sorrowful  years, 
And  lovely  the  dews  for  thy  chilling  and  ruby 

thy  heart-drip  of  tears. 


The  eyes  that  had  gazed  from  afar  on  a  beauty 

that  blinded  the  eyes 
Shall  call  forth  its  image  for  ever,  its  shadow  in 

alien  skies. 
The  heart  that  had  striven  to  beat  in  the  heart 

of  the  Mighty  too  soon 
Shall  still  of  that  beating  remember  some  errant 

and  faltering  tune. 
73 


HOPE  IN  FAILURE 

For  thou  hast  but  fallen  to  gather  the  last  of 

the  secrets  of  power  ; 
The  beauty  that  breathes  in  thy  spirit  shall  shape 

of  thy  sorrow  a  flower, 
The  pale  bud  of  pity  shall  open  the  bloom  of 

its  tenderest  rays, 
The  heart  of  whose  shining  is  bright  with  the 

light  of  the  Ancient  of  Days. 


74 


THE   CROWN 

I  WORE  in  joy  a  radiant  star  ; 

Its  rays  flew  forth  into  the  night ; 
It  made  them  glad  who  watched  afar, 

And  filled  their  gloom  with  happy  light. 


Their  eyes  no  more  the  light  may  win, 
And  all  the  loves  are  changed  to  scorns. 

The  rays  of  light  pierce  deep  within, 
The  star  is  now  my  crown  of  thorns. 


75 


THE   EVERLASTING   BATTLE 

When  in  my  shadowy  hours  I  pierce  the  hidden 
heart  of  hopes  and  fears, 

They  change  into  immortal  joys  or  end  in  im- 
memorial tears. 

Moytura's  battle  still  endures  and  in  this  human 
heart  of  mine 

The  golden  sun  powers  with  the  might  of  demon 
darkness  intertwine. 


I  think  that  every  teardrop  shed  still  flows  from 

Balor's  eye  of  doom, 
And   gazing  on   his   ageless   grief  my   heart   is 

filled  with  ageless  gloom  : 
I  close  my  ever -weary  eyes  and  in   my  bitter 

spirit  brood 
And   am   at   one   in   vast   despair  with   all  the 

demon  multitude. 

76 


THE  EVERLASTING  BATTLE 

But  in  the  lightning  flash  of  hope  I  feel  the 
sun-god's  fiery  sling 

Has  smote  the  horror  in  the  heart  where  clouds 
of  demon  glooms  take  wing, 

I  shake  my  heavy  fears  aside  and  seize  the 
flaming  sword  of  will 

1  am  of  Dana's  race  divine  and  know  I  am  im- 
mortal still. 


77 


ORDEAL 

Love  and  pity  are  pleading  with  me  this  hour. 

What  is  this  voice  that  stays  me  forbidding  to 
yield, 
Offering  beauty,  love,  and  immortal  power, 

i^ons  away  in  some  far-off  heavenly  field  ? 

Though   I   obey   thee,    Immortal,    my   heart   is 
sore. 
Though  love  be  withdrawn  for  love  it  bitterly 
grieves  : 
Pity  withheld  in  the  breast  makes  sorrow  more. 
Oh  that  the  heart  could  feel  what  the  mind 
believes  ! 

Cease,  O  love,  thy  fiery  and  gentle  pleading. 
Soft  is  thy  grief,  but  in  tempest  through  me  it 
rolls. 
Dreamst  thou  not  whither  the  path  is  leading 
Where  the  Dark   Immortal  would  shepherd 
our  weeping  souls  ? 

78 


THE    CHILD   OF    DESTINY 

This  is  the  hero-heart  of  the  enchanted  isle, 
Whom  now  the  twilight  children  tenderly  en- 
fold, 
Pat   with    their   pearly   palms   and   crown   with 

elfin  gold, 
While    in   the    mountain's   breast    his    brothers 

watch  and  smile. 
Who    now    of    Dana's    host   mav    guide    these 

dancing  feet  ? 
What    bright   immortal    hides    and    through    a 

child's  light  breath 
Laughs  an  immortal  joy — Angus  of  love  and 

death 
Returned  to  make  our  hearts  with  dream  and 

music  beat  ? 
Or  Lugh  leaves  heavenly  wars  to  free  his  ancient 

land  ; 
Not  on  the  fiery  steed  maned  with  tumultuous 

flame 
As  in  the  Fomor  days  the  sunbright  chieftain 

came, 
But  in  this  dreaming  boy,  more  subtle  conquest 

planned. 

79 


THE  CHILD  OF  DESTINY 

Or  does  the  Mother  brood  some  deed  of  sacri- 
fice ? 
Her  heart  in  his  laid  bare  to  hosts  of  wounding 

spears, 
Till  love  immortal  melt  the  cruel  eyes  to  tears, 
Or  on  his  brow  be  set  the  heroes'  thorny  prize. 
See  !    as   some  shadows  of  a  darker  race  draw 

near, 
How  he  compels  their  feet,  with  what  a  proud 

command  ! 
What  is  it  waves  and  gleams  ?     Is  that  a  Silver 

Hand 
Whose  light  through  delicate  lifted  fingers  shines 

so  clear  ? 
Night  like  a  glowing  seraph  o'er  the  kingly  boy 
Watches  with  ardent  eyes  from  his  own  ancient 

home  ; 
And  far  away,  rocking  in  living  foam 
The  three  great  waves  leap  up  exulting  in  their 

joy, 

Remembering  the  past,  the  immemorial  deeds 
The    Danaan    gods    had   wrought    in    guise    of 

mortal  men, 
Their  elemental  hearts  madden  with  life  again. 
And  shaking  foamy  heads  toss  the  great  ocean 

steeds. 

80 


A  FAREWELL 

Only  in  my  deep   heart  I  love  you,  sweetest 
heart. 
Many  another  vesture  hath  the  soul,  I  pray 
Call  me  not  forth  from  this.      If  from  the  light 
I  part 
Only  with  clay  I  cling  unto  the  clay. 


And    ah  !    my   bright    companion,    you    and    I 
must  go 
Our  ways,  unfolding  lonely  glories,  not  our 
own, 
Nor  from  each  other  gathered,  but  an  inward 
glow 
Breathed    by   the    Lone   One   on   the   seeker 
lone. 

If  for  the  heart's  own  sake  we  break  the  heart, 
we  may 
When  the  last  ruby  drop  dissolves  in  diamond 
light 
Meet  in  a  deeper  vesture  in  another  day. 

Until  that  dawn,  dear  heart,  good-night,  good- 
night. 

Si  G 


THE    PARTING   OF   WAYS 

The  skies  from  black  to  pearly  grey 
Had  veered  without  a  star  or  sun  ; 

Only  a  burning  opal  ray 

Fell  on  your  brow  when  all  was  done. 

Aye,  after  victory,  the  crown  ; 

Yet  through  the  nght  no  word  of  cheer  ; 
And  what  would  win  and  what  go  down 

No  word  could  help,  no  light  malce  clear. 

A  thousand  ages  onward  led 

Their  joys  and  sorrows  to  that  hour  ; 
No  wisdom  weighed,  no  word  was  said, 

For  only  what  we  were  had  power. 

There  was  no  tender  leaning  there 
Of  brow  to  brow  in  loving  mood  ; 

For  we  were  rapt  apart,  and  were 
In  elemental  solitude. 
82 


THE  PARTING  OF  WAYS 

We  knew  not  in  redeeming  day 

Whether  our  spirits  would  be  found 

Floating  along  the  starry  way, 

Or  in  the  earthly  vapours  drowned. 

Brought  by  the  sunrise-coloured  flame 
To  earth,  uncertain  yet,  the  while 

I  looked  at  you,  there  slowly  came, 
Noble  and  sisterly,  your  smile. 

We  bade  adieu  to  love  the  old  ; 

We  heard  another  lover  then, 
Whose  forms  are  myriad  and  untold, 

Sigh  to  us  from  the  hearts  of  men. 


83 


A    MIDNIGHT   MEDITATION 

How  often  have  I  said, 

"  We  may  not  grieve  for  the  immortal  dead." 
x^nd  now,  poor  blenched  heart. 
Thy  ruddy  hues  all  tremulous  depart. 
Why  be  with  fate  at  strife 
Because  one  passes  on  from  death  to  life. 
Who  may  no  more  delay 

Rapt  from  our  strange  and  pitiful  dream  away 
By  One  with  ancient  claim 
Who  robes  her  with  the  spirit  like  a  fiame. 
Not  lost  this  high  belief — 

Oh,  passionate  heart,  what  is  thy  cause  for  grief } 
Is  this  thy  sorrow  now, 
She  in  eternal  beauty  may  not  bow 
Thy  troubles  to  efface  ^ 

As  in  old  time  a  head  with  gentle  grace 
All  tenderly  laid  by  thine 
Taught  thee  the  nearness  of  the  love  divine. 
Her  joys  no  more  for  thee 

84 


A  MIDNIGHT  MEDITATION 

Than  the  impartial  laughter  of  the  sea, 
Her  beauty  no  more  fair 
For  thee  alone,  but  starry,  everywhere. 
Her  pity  dropped  for  you 
No  more  than  heaven  above  with  healing  dew 
Favours  one  home  of  men — 
Ah  !  grieve  not  ;  she  becomes  herself  again. 
And  passed  beyond  thy  sight 
She  roams  along  the  thought-swept  fields  of  light, 
Moving  in  dreams  until 
She  finds  again  the  root  of  ancient  will, 
The  old  heroic  love 

That  emptied  once  the  heavenly  courts  above. 
The  angels  heard  from  earth 
A  mournful  cry  which  shattered  all  their  mirth, 
Raised  by  a  senseless  rout 
Warring  in  chaos  with  discordant  shout, 
And  that  the  pain  might  cease 
They  grew  rebellious  in  the  Master's  peace  ; 
And  fallinor  downward  then 
The  angelic  lights  were  crucified  in  men  ; 
Leaving  so  radiant  spheres 
For  earth's  dim  twilight  ever  wet  with  tears 
That  through  those  shadows  dim 
Might  breathe  the  lovely  music  brought  from 
Him. 

85 


A  MIDNIGHT  MEDITATION 

And  now  my  grief  I  see 

Was  but  that  ancient  shadow  part  of  me, 

Not  yet  attuned  to  good, 

Still  blind  and  senseless  in  its  warring  mood, 

I  turn  from  it  and  climb 

To  the  heroic  spirit  of  the  prime, 

The  light  that  well  foreknew 

All  the  dark  ways  that  it  must  journey  through. 

Yet  seeing  still  a  gain, 

A  distant  glory  o'er  the  hills  of  pain, 

Through  all  that  chaos  wild 

A  breath  as  gentle  as  a  little  child. 

Through  earth  transformed,  divine, 

The  Christ-soul  of  the  universe  to  shine. 


86 


AGE   AND   YOUTH 

We  have  left  our  youth  behind  : 

Earth  is  in  its  baby  years  : 
Void  of  wisdom  cries  the  wind, 

And  the  sunlight  knows  no  tears. 

When  shall  twilight  feel  the  awe, 
All  the  rapt  thought  of  the  sage, 

And  the  lips  of  wind  give  law 

Drawn  from  out  their  lore  of  age  ? 

When  shall  earth  begin  to  burn 

With  such  love  as  thrills  my  breast  ? 

When  shall  we  together  turn 
To  our  long,  long  home  for  rest 


3 


Child  and  father,  we  grow  old 

While  you  laugh  and  play  with  flowers  ; 
And  life's  tale  for  us  is  told 

Holding  only  empty  hours. 
^7 


AGE  AND  YOUTH 

Giant  child,  on  you  await 

All  the  hopes  and  fears  of  men. 

In  thy  fulness  is  our  fate — 

What  till  then,  oh,  what  till  then 


88 


THE   JOY   OF  EARTH 

Oh,  the  sudden  wings  arising  from  the  ploughed 
fields  brown 
Showered  aloft  in  spray  of  song  the  wildbird 
twitter  floats 
O'er  the  unseen  fount  awhile,  and  then  comes 
dropping  down 
Nigh  the  cool  brown  earth  to  hush  enraptured 
notes. 

Far  within  a  dome  of  trembling  opal  throbs  the 

fire, 

Mistily  its  rain  of  diamond  lances  shed  below 

Touches  eyes  and  brows  and  faces  lit  with  wild 

desire 

For  the  burning  silence  whither  we  would  go. 

Heart,  O  heart,  once  more  it  is  the  ancient  joy 
of  earth 
Breathes  in  thee  and  flings  the  wild  wings  sun- 
ward to  the  dome 
To  the  light  where  all  the  Children  of  the  Fire 
had  birth 
Though  our  hearts  and  footsteps  wander  far 
from  home. 

89 


RECONCILIATION 

I    BEGIN   through   the    grass  once   again   to  be 

bound  to  the  Lord  ; 
I  can  see,  through  a  face  that  has  faded,  the 

face  full  of  rest 
Of  the  Earth,  of  the  Mother,  my  heart  with  her 

heart  in  accord. 
As  I  lie  'mid  the  cool  green  tresses  that  mantle 

her  breast 
I  begin  with  the  grass  once  again  to  be  bound  to 

the  Lord. 

By  the  hand  of  a  child  I  am  led  to  the  throne  of 
the  King 
For  a  touch  that  now  fevers  me  not  is  forgotten 
and  far. 
And  his  infinite  sceptred  hands  that  sway  us  can 
bring 
Me  in  dreams  from  the  laugh  of  a  child  to  the 
song  of  a  star. 
On  the  laugh  of  a  child  I  am  borne  to  the  joy  of 
the  King. 

90 


The  sweetest  song  was  ever  sung 
May  soothe  you  but  a  little  while : 

The  gayest  music  ever  rung 

Shall  yield  you  hut  a  fleeting  smile. 

The  well  I  digged  you  soon  shall  pass 
Tou  may  but  rest  with  me  an  hour , 

Tet  drink^  I  offer  you  the  glass ^ 
A  moment  of  sustaining  -power ^ 

And  give  to  you.,  if  it  he  gain., 
Whether  in  pleasure  or  annoy., 

To  see  one  elemental  pain.. 
One  light  of  everlasting  joy. 


91 


NOTE 

As  the  mythological  references  made  in  a  few 
poems  may  partially  obscure  the  meaning  for 
those  unacquainted  with  Celtic  tradition,  I  have 
appended  here  a  brief  commentary  on  the  names 
mentioned. 

Angus^  the  Celtic  Eros.  In  the  bardic  stories  he  is 
described  as  a  tall,  golden-haired  youth  playing  on 
a  harp  and  surrounded  by  singing  birds.  The 
kisses  of  these  birds  created  love  and  also  brought 
death. 

Balor^  the  prince  of  the  dark  powers.  His  eye  turned 
every  living  thing  it  rested  on  into  stone.  He 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Moytura  by  Lugh  the 
Sun-god. 

Dana^  the  Hibernian  mother  of  the  gods  who  were 
named  from  her  Tuatha  De  Danaan,  or  the  Tribes 
of  the  goddess  Dana.  They  are  also  sometimes 
called  the  Sidhe. 

Etain^  a  Celtic  goddess  who  is  the  subject  of  a  famous 

93 


^"  s^lr-io'2To^  25  CENTS 

Will  °^  ON    TMP-  C^^^   '^^'LURE  T.^     *^-^^  -l  S 


l^vASSe 


W 


/ 


^./ 


181488 


